The Inspiring Bravery of the 1943 Warsaw Ghetto Uprising

Located in Warsaw, Poland, the Warsaw Ghetto was the largest ghetto used by the Nazis to segregate and persecute Jews during World War II.  The population of Warsaw was about a third Jewish before WWII, with 375,000 Jewish residents. During the war, large amounts of Jewish refugees from other countries and cities were transported to Warsaw by the Nazis. The establishment of the ghetto was announced in October 1940 and in November, it was decreed that all of the Jews of Warsaw must live within it. As many as 450,000 Jewish people were imprisoned within the 1.3 square mile ghetto at any given time. 

The Jews living within the Warsaw Ghetto were completely cut off from the outside world. They were forced to build the very walls that imprisoned them within the ghetto and were not allowed to leave. The living conditions within the Warsaw Ghetto were almost impossible to survive. On average, six or seven people shared each room in the overcrowded ghetto, and daily food rations equaled about one tenth of required daily calorie intakes. 

In 1942, the “deportations” began. 

The Nazi authorities routinely rounded up Jewish people living within the Warsaw Ghetto to deport them to Treblinka, a death camp where they were to be slaughtered. 

The German soldiers violently forced the Jews to march through the ghetto to waiting trains where they were made to board freight cars heading to the killing center. The Nazis also forced the members of the Jewish Council (Judenrat), which had some governing power in the ghetto, to aid in organizing the deportations. 

The Nazis performed these deportations systematically, moving on block by block through the ghetto. The soldiers violently beat the people to make them move more quickly. If any of the Jewish people refused to move, or was unable, they were shot on the spot. The soldiers also lured people out onto the streets by announcing that the deportations were finished and that those remaining would receive food. Starving, the Jews came out of their homes and were met with death. 

Although these forced transportations of Jews were called deportations, they were really just delayed killings. It is important to remember that all of the deported Jews were being taken to certain death at Treblinka, not simply deported to another place. About 265,000 Jewish people were taken from the Warsaw Ghetto to their deaths at the killing camp. 

In January 1943, the Jewish occupants of the Warsaw Ghetto launched their first act of rebellion against the occupying German forces. 

On January 18th, German soldiers entered the ghetto by surprise to round up more Jews to be “deported” to Treblinka. When the Nazis announced who must report outside and prepare to go to the holding cell for deportation (Umschlagplatz) many of the Jews refused. In return, the soldiers began taking anyone they could grab. 

Members of multiple resistance groups like the Hashomer Hatzair movement and the Jewish Fighting Organization (ZOB) were included in those rounded up. These young fighters were (meagerly) armed with weapons they had acquired through smuggling and other illegal means. When signaled, they attacked the German soldiers. All but one of these fighters were shot but, importantly, there were also German injuries and casualties. More fighters awaited the Germans inside the houses and ambushed the forces who entered to take more Jews. 

This January act of resistance was a major watershed moment in the movement that led to the larger Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. For the first time, the German soldiers had met opposition in their persecution within the ghetto. The Jewish fighters had managed to take the soldiers by surprise and actually cause damage. With that, the seeds for the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising were planted.

On April 19, 1943, the eve of the Jewish holiday of Passover, SS soldiers surrounded the ghetto with plans to liquidate it and deport all of the remaining inhabitants over the course of three days. They were met with a surprise when the Jews still living in the ghetto fought back. 

Members of two resistance organizations, the Jewish Combat Organization (ŻOB) and the Jewish Military Union (ŻZW), had been training in preparation for the next round of deportations. When the Nazis entered the ghetto, the resistance fighters ambushed them with Molotov cocktails and hand grenades. 

The resistance fighters decided that they would continue to fight until they couldn't anymore. Many of the Jewish people of the ghetto hid in makeshift bunkers and sewer hideouts that had been prepared ahead of time. Unable to contain the revolt, the Nazis resorted to burning and smoking the Jews out of hiding. 

The Nazis began systematically burning down houses and blowing up sewers and basements where Jewish people were hiding. "We were beaten by the flames, not the Germans," said Marek Edelman, deputy commander and sole survivor of the ŻOB (he was one of a lucky few who escaped through the sewers). 

The Germans then brought in dogs to detect remaining bunkers. When a bunker was located, they threw in smoke bombs so that the Jews were forced to either die of smoke inhalation or exit the hideout. 

On May 8, the Nazis discovered a large bunker that as being used as the ŻOB's main command post. Dozens of fighters and the organizations leadership all took cyanide capsules to die by their own hands rather than the Germans'. 

The fighting continued, with periodic shootouts and skirmishes, for nearly a month until May 16, 1943. On this date, all remaining Jews were rounded up to be taken for deportation. 13,000 Jews were killed during the month-long uprising, with 6,000 of them having been burned alive or killed by smoke inhalation. Almost all of the remaining 50,000 inhabitants of the ghetto were taken to Treblinka. 

The Jewish resistance fighters knew that they had no chance against the well-prepared SS soldiers and Nazi police that they were fighting. From the start, they were certain they would be either killed while fighting or taken to their deaths when the revolt was over.

So why did they fight?

To quote Marek Edelman, “We knew we were going to die. Just like all the others who were sent to Treblinka. But it was easier to die fighting than in a gas chamber.” 

The resistance fighters and the other remaining inhabitants of the ghetto in April, 1943 knew they would die one way or another. Still, they decided to die on their own terms. 

The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising is an inspiring moment in history not because it was successful, but because it showed that even in the face of certain death, the Jewish people would not surrender to the Nazis. The spirit of the Jewish people emboldened them to fight until the very last moment and die on their own terms. 

Sources: https://www.yadvashem.org/holocaust/about/ghettos/warsaw.html 

https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/deportations-to-and-from-the-warsaw-ghetto 

https://wwv.yadvashem.org/yv/en/exhibitions/warsaw_ghetto_testimonies/resistance.asp  

https://web.archive.org/web/20120429104554/http://ejpress.org/article/news/eastern_europe/16128 

https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/warsaw-ghetto-uprising